PURPOSE: To suppress olefinic signals and enable simultaneous and quantitative estimation of multiple functional parameters associated with water and lipid, we investigated a modified method using chemical shift displacement and recovery-based separation of lipid tissue (SPLIT) involving acquisitions with different inversion times (TIs), echo times (TEs), and b-values. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Single-shot diffusion echo-planar imaging (SSD-EPI) with multiple b-values (0-3000 s/mm2 ) was performed without fat suppression to separate water and lipid images using the chemical shift displacement of lipid signals in the phase-encoding direction...

Denervation leads to significant muscle atrophy, but it is less clear whether 1) loss of capillaries, fibre size and oxidative capacity decline in parallel and 2) the time course of these changes differs between young and old animals. To investigate this, we denervated the left gastrocnemius muscle for 1, 2 or 4 weeks, while the right muscle served as an internal control, in rats that were 5- or 25 months old at the end of the experiment. In the fast part of the gastrocnemius muscle, almost all atrophy had occurred after two weeks (42%) of denervation...

Recent studies demonstrated that the corticospinal pathway is one of the key nodes for the feedback control of human standing and that the excitability is flexibly changed according to the current state of posture. However, it has been unclear whether this pathway is also involved in a predictive control of human standing. Here, we investigated whether the corticospinal excitability of the soleus (SOL) and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles during standing would be modulated anticipatorily when perturbation was impending...

Studies in skeletal muscle cell cultures suggest that the cortical actin cytoskeleton is a major requirement for insulin-stimulated glucose transport, implicating the β-actin isoform which, in many cell types, is the main actin isoform. However, it is not clear that β-actin plays such a role in mature skeletal muscle. Neither dependency of glucose transport on β-actin nor actin reorganization upon glucose transport have been tested in mature muscle. To investigate the role of β-actin in fully differentiated muscle, we have performed a detailed characterization of wildtype and muscle-specific β-actin knockout (KO) mice...

The in vitro unconstrained Achilles tendon is nearly straight, while in vivo experiments reveal that the proximal region of the Achilles tendon, adjacent to Kager's fat pad, bends ventrally during plantarflexion but remains nearly straight during dorsiflexion. Tendon bending is an important factor in determining the displacement of the foot compared to the shortening of the muscle fibers. The objective of this study was to elucidate the various mechanisms that could cause tendon bending, which currently remain unknown...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to identify the effect on spasticity and walking of US-guided botulinum toxin type A (BoNT-A) injections administered to improve equinovarus walking pattern commonly observed in patients after stroke. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Twenty-three patients with post-stroke spastic equinovarus deformity were recruited. The US-guided BoNT-A injections were administered into the spastic muscles (including gastrocnemius; GK, soleus; S and tibialis posterior; TP) using a specific approach, and all of the patients were enrolled in rehabilitation programmes after the injections...

BACKGROUND: When a small, thin, and durable flap is required for coverage of the foot, the proximal peroneal artery perforator (PPAP) free flap may be a novel option. However, few clinical results and anatomical studies on the PPAP flap have been published. METHODS: A total of 24 PPAP flaps used in 22 patients from January 2013 to December 2016 were analyzed. All flaps were elevated in the subfascial plane based on a single perforator from the peroneal artery between the soleus and peroneus muscles...

Previously, we monitored the expression level of the pro-apoptotic proteins caspase-3 and cleaved poly-ADP-ribose polymerase in the skeletal muscle of high-fat diet-induced obese rats in order to assess muscle damage. In this study, we analyzed whether exercise or dietary adjustment was more effective at preventing high-fat diet-induced muscle damage. High-fat diet-induced obese rats were divided into three groups: the high-fat diet (HFD), the combined high-fat diet and exercise (HFD+EXE), and the dietary adjustment (DA) groups...

INTRODUCTION: Valid length measurements of the different segments of the Achilles tendon are needed in order to investigate if differential elongation of the Achilles tendon takes place after rupture. The purpose of this paper was to present data concerning the accuracy and reliability of an ultrasound measurement of the free part of the Achilles tendon. METHODS: Both legs of 19 non-injured subjects were examined by magnetic resonance imagining (MRI) and ultrasound...

PURPOSE: 3D time-resolved (4D) phase contrast MRI can be used to study muscle contraction. However, 3D coverage with sufficient spatiotemporal resolution can only be achieved by interleaved acquisitions during many repetitions of the motion task, resulting in long scan times. The aim of this study was to develop a compressed sensing accelerated 4D phase contrast MRI technique for quantification of velocities and strain rate of the muscles in the lower leg during active plantarflexion/dorsiflexion...

BACKGROUND: In current health systems, long duration stretching, performed daily, cannot be obtained through prescriptions of physical therapy. In addition, the short-term efficacy of the various stretching techniques is disputed and their long-term effects remain undocumented. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate changes in extensibility in six lower limb muscles and in ambulation speed following a ≥1-year self-stretch program, the Guided Self-rehabilitation Contract (GSC), in individuals with chronic spastic paresis...

OBJECTIVE: A systematic review to examine the effect of static or dynamic trunk training compared to standard care or control therapy on muscle activity and muscle thickness of the trunk and lower limb muscles in stroke survivors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This review was registered on PROSPERO (no: CRD42017063771) and was written according to the PRISMA guidelines. The search strategy included studies from the first indexed article until September 2017 and was performed in the electronical databases PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Ovid Medline and PEDro...

Nutritional abundance associated with chronic inflammation and dyslipidemia impairs the functioning of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) thereby hampering cellular responses to insulin. PHLPP1 was identified as a phosphatase which inactivates Akt, the master regulator of insulin mediated glucose homeostasis. Given the suggestive role of PHLPP1 phosphatase in terminating insulin signalling pathways, deeper insights into its functional role in inducing insulin resistance are warranted. Here, we show that PHLPP1 expression is enhanced in skeletal muscle of insulin resistant rodents which also displayed ER stress, an important mediator of insulin resistance...

The voluntary step execution task is a popular measure for identifying fall risks among elderly individuals in the community setting because most falls have been reported to occur during movement. However, the neurophysiological functions during this movement are not entirely understood. Here, we used electromyography (EMG) to explore the relationship between EMG-EMG coherence, which reflects common oscillatory drive to motoneurons, and motor performance associated with stepping tasks: simple reaction time (SRT) and choice reaction time (CRT) tasks...

Animal models are widely used to develop drugs for treating diabetes mellitus (DM). Insulin resistance (IR) is one of the main problems in type-2 DM (T2DM). Streptozotocin (STZ) is used to damage pancreatic cells for induction of DM. Many rat models were applied in research as T2DM. However, the degree of IR in each model is unknown. In the present study, IR and insulin signaling were compared in four models of type 2 diabetes: rats fed a fructose-rich chow for 8 weeks, rats feed high-fat chow for 4 weeks followed by injection with streptozotocin (35 mg/kg, i...

Skeletal muscle plays a central role in insulin-controlled glucose homeostasis. The molecular mechanisms related to insulin resistance in this tissue are incompletely understood. Herpud1 is an endoplasmic reticulum membrane protein that maintains intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis under stress conditions. It has recently been reported that Herpud1-knockout mice display intolerance to a glucose load without showing altered insulin secretion. The functions of Herpud1 in skeletal muscle also remain unknown. Based on these findings, we propose that Herpud1 is necessary for insulin-dependent glucose disposal in skeletal muscle...

Evolutionary considerations suggest that the body has been optimized to perform at a high level in the food-deprived state when fatty acids and their ketone metabolites are a major fuel source for muscle cells. Because controlled food deprivation in laboratory animals and intermittent energy restriction in humans is a potent physiologic stimulus for ketosis, we designed a study to determine the impact of intermittent food deprivation during endurance training on performance and to elucidate the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms...